I wouldn’t dare put this post on BuyTwilightStuff.com for fear of losing all of my readers, but I just had to blog about it somewhere!

The Harvard Lampoon released today a new book parodying the hit “Twilight.” The book is called “Nightlight: A Parody” and the fun begins with a picture of an apple core on the cover. (aff link)

The story is a true parody of Twilight (albeit much shorter at only 160 pages). Belle Goose falls in love with Edwart Mullen, a hot computer nerd. Here’s a quote from the description:

“About three things I was absolutely certain. First, Edwart was most likely my soul mate, maybe. Second, there was a vampire part of him–which I assumed was wildly out of his control–that wanted me dead. And third, I unconditionally, irrevocably, impenetrably, heterogeneously, gynecologically, and disreputably wished he had kissed me.”

Although I am a self-professed Twilight fan, I still think that this book would be quite funny. What do you think? Does it ruin the love story for you? Or does it add to the Twilight legacy?

Why haven’t I been blogging as much lately? Quite simply, I have had my nose stuck in books! After finishing the Twilight Series and the Harry Potter series, I was having a hard time getting into anything again. But knowing that I had a little bit of time to relax over the long Labor Day weekend, I was desperate to find a book to read. In the aisle at Kroger, I found a book that said “Now on HBO, True Blood, the original series based on the Sookie Stackhouse novels.” All of the similarly marked books said that they were written by Charlaine Harris and have “dead” somewhere in the title. I had heard people raving about True Blood, so I figured that I would buy the first book and see what I thought.

By the end of the Labor Day weekend, I think that I was on the 2nd or 3rd book. Fast forward another week and I am now on book 6! They are quick reads (about 300-ish pages each). The first book had an alarming number of similarities to Twilight. But then it diverged and took a different direction.

Similarities to the Twilight series: Main character is a woman who falls in love with a vampire. She has some “other” types of love interests as well who are not completely human. The authors set an interesting atmosphere of a world that is both similar to normal and different. There are enough books that you can keep reading and reading and reading to truly feel invested in the stories.

Differences from Twilight: Sex! While Twilight is in large part about abstinence, the Sookie Stackhouse books each have at least one sex scene that is pretty graphic and a couple of pages long. It’s not like the whole book is about sex, but there is definitely enough to make your cheeks flush.

I’m making myself take a break before I buy 7-9 so that I can have something to look forward to in the coming weeks if I get all of my work done. I’m anxious to hear what you think of the books if you are reading as well!

I’ll admit from the start that I haven’t yet finished Trust Agents, by Chris Brogan and Julien Smith. Between two conferences in the last week, travel, and the first week of school, reading time has been short. But combining what I have read so far with what I have SEEN in the last 7 days, I can unequivocally say that everyone needs a copy of this book.

A week ago I could barely tell you who Chris Brogan and Julien Smith were. What I could tell you was only from what I read others said about them. Fast forward a week and I could talk your ear off about why I believe in them not because of what they say but because of what they do.

I first saw both Chris and Julien speak at Affiliate Summit. They outlined some of the main points of their new book. That would have been sufficient enough to make me read it. However, actually meeting them and talking to them about what they do and how they do it made me not only want to read the book but also tell everyone I know about it. Chris and Julien have that way of talking to you like you are the only person in the room. You WANT to believe them not because they are buttering you up or trying to sell you something. Instead, they are giving you little pearls of wisdom about how you can be successful.

A few days after Affiliate Summit I had the chance to meet Chris again at Blog Indiana. How excited was I when he called on me by name during a Q&A session? It was a perfect example of how he operates. You build trust, in part, by empowering people. I walked away from that Q&A feeling like a million bucks.

Trust Agents is all about how you use turn personal connections to leverage your message–whatever that message may be. In a “virtual” world where you are more likely to come across someone on Twitter or Facebook than at your local coffee shop, it can be difficult to establish trusting relationships. Trust Agents teaches you how to become a trust agent yourself and how to build relationships with other trust agents (what they call the Agent Zero of each network).

If all of that above isn’t enough to make you want to buy your own copy of Trust Agents, just do a quick Google search and see what everyone else is saying. Learn from people who are DOING it and not just talking about it. Learn from the people who are building networks of trust all over the place–Chris Brogan and Julien Smith.

While skimming through affiliate newsletters this evening, I came across what has to be one of the coolest gifts for a girl geek that I think I have ever seen. Now, that’s not to say that the guys don’t enjoy a little aromatherapy as well. But at least in my house, I’m the resident “sniffer.”

ThinkGeek is selling a USB Aromatherapy Oil Burner for less than $6. You simply place a little drop of aromatherapy oil onto the “X”. Then you plug it into your USB port and let it heat up. Can you imagine all of the places that you could use this in addition to your home office? Imagine having it with you when you are traveling? You can make those stinky, impersonal hotel rooms smell like your favorite relaxating scent.

Not only do I want a handful of these for myself, but I think that they would make great gifts. At $6, you can afford to have a bunch of them on hand to hand out with thank you cards, pop in Christmas stockings, etc. Anyone with a computer could use it. It comes with one bottle of oil, but you can always purchase your own as well to customize the gift a little bit more. I’m going to order a few and will let you know what I think about them.